Turkey's leader finally gets into parliament

Turkey's most popular politician, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was elected to parliament yesterday, leaving the road clear for him to become prime minister and allow a possible second vote to let US troops into the country.

Mr Erdogan, the chairman of the governing Justice and Development party, won a seat in the eastern province of Siirt, 60 miles from Turkey's border with Iraq, with about 85% of the votes.

Mr Erdogan was barred from standing for parliament in the election that his party won in November because of a previous conviction for inciting religious hatred. But once his party took power in parliament, with almost two-thirds of the seats, it changed the constitution, enabling him to stand.

The election of Mr Erdogan will end the current power-sharing regime, in which Mr Erdogan has held power without office and been recognised by dozens of world leaders as the effective leader of Turkey, but was unable to take the premiership because of his lack of a seat in parliament

It is expected that the cur rent prime minister, Abdullah Gul, will stand down in the next few days. A reshuffle of top jobs is then likely, with Mr Gul, who attended last year's EU summit in Copenhagen and negotiated with the US over troop deployment, the frontrunner for foreign minister.

A second vote to let in US troops will be the most pressing issue for Mr Erdogan. The Turkish parliament narrowly rejected the deployment of up to 62,000 troops a week ago.

Since then, pressure for a second vote has risen, with a sharp fall in the stock market and a statement from the chief of the Turkish general staff that the influential military supported the US deployment of troops in Turkey.

But observers suggest that a vote is several days, and possibly weeks, away.

While Mr Erdogan has left his options open he has expressed a desire for a second UN resolution prior to any troop deployment. And it is thought that a reshuffle and a vote of confidence in the new government may come first

Despite the lack of parliamentary authorisation, some US troops have already arrived. Washington has permission from parliament to deploy up to 3,000 personnel to upgrade Turkish ports and airbases.

On Saturday, two 30-vehicle-strong convoys of Turkish trucks carrying US military equipment left the eastern Mediterranean port of Iskenderun, heading west towards the Iraqi border. The American roll-on roll-off vessel was unloaded early yesterday, under cover of darkness.

US troops have established one base near the city of Mardin, close to the Iraqi border. American troops were also spotted scouting for another site on Saturday.

The chairman of parliament, Bulent Arinc, expressed alarm over the US troop movements yesterday, describing them as "de facto deployment".